GMO News

The American Chestnut Foundation pulls support for embattled GMO American Chestnut Tree

A much-hyped GMO solution to reviving the American Chestnut Tree in the U.S. is withering on the vine—like other GMO promises. In a December press release The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) announced withdrawing their support for the “Darling 58” genetically engineered American chestnut tree “for several pending regulatory petitions that would authorize distribution of transgenic Darling trees […]

Genetically modified crops aren’t a solution to climate change, despite what the biotech industry says

By Anneleen Kenis, Lecturer in Political Ecology and Environmental Justice, Brunel University London and Barbara Van Dyck, Research Fellow in Political Agroecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) The European Commission launched a proposal in July 2023 to deregulate a large number of plants manufactured using new genetic techniques. Despite extraordinary attempts by the Spanish presidency to force […]

New IFOAM publication establishes safety and risk assessment protocol for new GMO technologies

The IFOAM Seeds Platform has published the Global Safety & Risk Assessment Protocol for New Genomic Technologies, a new guidance for governments and the private sector for the assessment and regulation of new GMOs (also called NGTs or New Genomic Technologies). This new and highly disruptive technology is an existential threat to organic and agroecological systems worldwide and […]

Brazil’s rapid GMO soy expansion linked to increased childhood leukemia deaths

As the top global GM soybean producer and pesticide consumer, it’s not surprising Brazil is the focus of research on health impacts of industrial agriculture. A recent study from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in collaboration with the University of Denver and University of Wisconsin-Madison illustrates the link between expanded soybean production and pesticide use with a jump in childhood […]

Not so precise fermentation: Lab finds 92 unknown compounds in synthetic biology milk

Testing reveals unknown molecules and fungicide in Bored Cow dairy alternative; findings dispute claims that synthetic biology-produced dairy protein is identical to real dairy protein. A laboratory recently discovered 92 unknown compounds in an alternative dairy product produced using a “precision fermentation” process that involves the use of genetic engineering. Molecules unknown to science Iowa-based […]